LED Street Lighting is up to 65 Percent More Efficient Than Traditional Lights While Reducing Emissions to Combat Climate Change

ALBANY — The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission), as part of its continuing work to reduce municipal energy consumption across the State, approved separate requests to sell utility-owned street lights to three municipalities: City of Utica (Oneida County); City of Dunkirk (Chautauqua County); and the Village of Medina (Orleans County). With the change in ownership, the municipalities can control street lighting and install their own state-of-the-art energy efficient lights to lower costs to taxpayers and protect the environment.

“Governor Cuomo has championed municipal government efficiency and encouraged municipalities to have greater control over their energy usage,” said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes. “Implementing LED street-lighting options can play an important role in helping the State achieve its clean-energy goals in support of Governor Cuomo’s Green New Deal.”

In 2015 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation amending the Public Service Law to establish procedures for the transfer of ownership of complete street lighting systems to municipalities or other government entities. With the change in ownership, municipalities take control of street lighting and have the opportunity to install state-of-the-art, energy efficient lights and new technologies to lower costs to taxpayers and protect the environment. Since that time, the Commission has approved the sale of over 63,000 street lights to 26 municipalities. The total value of these street lights is nearly $36.5 million.

Energy efficiency lights, known as LED or light-emitting diodes, use significantly less energy than traditional street lighting. The adoption of LED-lighting can save municipalities up to 65 percent of their electricity costs for street lighting.

The City of Utica will purchase 7,058 street lights and associated facilities from National Grid for $4.1 million, the City of Dunkirk will purchase 1,522 street lights and associated facilities from National Grid for $1 million; and the Village of Medina will purchase 467 street lights and associated facilities from National Grid for nearly $70,000.

LED-related energy savings can contribute significantly to the State’s energy and environmental goals. In fact, if all of the State’s street lighting were converted to LED fixtures, the energy savings potential is estimated to be enough electricity for 75,000 average-sized houses. Financial savings could be as great as $28 million per year. Given the opportunity for savings, municipalities across the State have been showing interest in either buying utility-owned street light facilities with the intention of converting to LED or working with utilities to convert utility-owned street lighting.

For an average municipality, street lights may account for up to 40 percent of total local government electric energy consumption. Pursuing conversions allows local governments to lower municipal energy expenditures while also lowering overall emissions from the energy sector, contributing to the State’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.

Today’s decisions may be obtained by going to the Commission Documents section of the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.ny.gov and entering Case Numbers 19-E-0526 (City of Dunkirk), 19-E-0533 (City of Utica) or 19-E-0534 (Village of Medina) in the input box labeled "Search for Case/Matter Number". Many libraries offer free Internet access.

Commission documents may also be obtained from the Commission’s Files Office, 14th floor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 (518-474-2500). If you have difficulty understanding English, please call us at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this press release.

New York State's Green New Deal

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Green New Deal is the most ambitious climate change program in the nation and puts the State on a path to being entirely carbon-neutral across all sectors of the economy, including power generation, transportation, buildings, industry and agriculture. The Governor's program also establishes a goal to achieve a zero-carbon emissions electricity sector by 2040, faster than any state in the nation. The recently passed Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates several of the Governor's ambitious Green New Deal clean energy targets: installing six gigawatts of distributed solar by 2025, three gigawatts of energy storage by 2030, and at least nine gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035. The CLCPA also calls for an orderly and just transition to clean energy, creating jobs while spurring a green economy. It builds on New York's unprecedented ramp-up of clean energy including a $2.9 billion investment in 46 large-scale renewable projects across the state, the creation of more than 150,000 jobs in New York's clean energy sector and 1,700% growth in the distributed solar sector since 2012. The CLCPA also directs New York State's agencies and authorities to work collaboratively with stakeholders to develop a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85% from 1990 levels by 2050, and to work toward a goal for disadvantage communities to receive 40% of the overall benefits of spending on clean energy and energy efficiency programs, projects or investments.

Reforming the Energy Vision

The CLCPA builds on Governor Cuomo's landmark Reforming the Energy Vision strategy to lead on climate change and grow New York's economy. REV is building a cleaner, more resilient and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers by stimulating investment in clean technologies like solar, wind, and energy efficiency. Already, REV has driven growth of nearly 1,700 percent in the statewide solar market, leveraged nearly $3.4 billion in private investments, improved energy affordability for 1.65 million low-income customers, and led to more than 150,000 jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and other clean tech sectors across New York State.

To learn more about REV, visit rev.ny.gov, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.